Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In a scene that might make you laugh with disbelief, our hero, Charles Darnay, is acquitted
of the crime of treason when one of his lawyers, Sydney Carton, points out to the jury that
he and Charles are practically twins. How can they be sure that Charles actually committed
the crime? The answer is: They can't!
"Not guilty!" pronounces the jury.
And Dickens is off and running with his main motif: Doubles!
There are doubles everywhere in this story. And why not? The book is called A Tale of
Two Cities, after all.
But even as Dickens has fun with his twos, there's also a point to what the guy was doing.
Think about the doubles you encounter in the book.
Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton are doubles—not just because they look alike, but because
they seem to be opposites (at least at first). Darnay is noble and virtuous, while Carton
is a worthless drunk.
Likewise, the two main female characters in the story—Lucie and Madame Defarge—are
also doubles. Though they seem to have nothing in common, they are set up as mirror images,
or opposites, of one another. While Lucie is loving and kind, Madame Defarge is bloodthirsty
and cruel.
In other words, Dickens uses his motif of doubles to help his readers pass judgment.
Compared to Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton is in great need of redemption—so his doubleness
supports Dickens' first theme about resurrection.
Meanwhile, Madame Defarge appears especially heartless in comparison to Lucie, so her doubleness
supports Dickens' commentary on the bloodthirsty tactics used by the revolutionaries.